History & architecture

Green Templeton College may be new, but it builds on the legacy left by its component colleges.

Green College and Templeton College were, by Oxford standards, relatively young colleges themselves, but both had their own history and established traditions, and neither was formed in the mould of a ‘traditional’ Oxford college.

GreenCollege was created by a major endowment from Dr Cecil Green to bring together graduate students in medicine and related disciplines and especially to encourage academic/industry liaisons. It had a special responsibility to provide a collegiate home for rapidly increasing numbers of clinical medical students.

Templeton College began as the Oxford Centre for Management Studies, founded in 1959 with a gift from Clifford Barclay to provide mid-career, post-experience management education. It became Templeton College in 1984 when the University allowed it to matriculate its first postgraduate students. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1995.

Green College has enjoyed the fine 18th century buildings of the Radcliffe Observatory and its surroundings in North Oxford, and this site has been retained by the new college. Templeton College was based at Egrove Park in the village of Kennington, where the buildings opened in 1969 were awarded Listed status in 1999.

Both have retained their initial specialisms, along with a link to industry and practitioners not always evident in Oxford colleges.

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